UR Delver

@didor Honestly I tried Mentor in all kind of decks from Landstill to Delver and in the Delver deck it didn't feel right. I often didn't have mana for it and I also hardly trigger Pyromancer triggers. Mentor is a card you usually want to win the game, but you will also have troubles casting it.

I run Mox Pearl though so that makes it a bit easier for me but in my original build running 15 lands Mentor was problematic. If you are running 4 Wastelands it may not be such a problem and might be a nice addition but from the 3 leagues I played in and faced many of the UR Delver decks...those decks are actually more aggressive than mine and really beatdown and attack resources. Those decks don't have time for casting Mentor often. In my version (see screenshot above) the card is actually more playable even though it may not seem like it at first sight.

There are many different directions to take Delver. You can play it as a more spell-based controlling deck or you can play it more like UR(x) hatebears, with or without burn.

For example, in straight UR you can play cards like Harsh Mentor, Eidolon, or Scab-Clan Berserker. These effects play nice with burn and Price of Progress for quickly closing out the game.

In the past I have splashed white to play Stony Silence, Containment Priest, and other nonsense http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=12172&d=269857&f=VI while that deck later got eclipsed by UWr Mentor, it may be viable post restriction (or maybe not, as the Gush restriction really hurts the deck)

There are also reasons to splash green or black and builds for those but I'll leave those as an exercise for the reader.

One reason to not play Delver is that Walking Ballista basically owns most of your threat suite (Delver/YP especially). Between that and the prevalence of Outcome decks I think all Delver decks need to seriously look at Null Rod/Stony in their builds.

The Vintage format lives on broken cards, and I see no reason why there shouldn't be broken cards that benefit my particular deck of choice to an inordinate degree. I mean, that's only fair.

Also have you guys tried Chart a Course? By no means is it a deck breaking card, but it’s honestly not bad, and it helps solve some issues we have late game. I feel like it’s worth trying in some builds, especially Aggro focused ones.

@zebotc
I do love Chart a Course! You recommend Grafdigger's Cage, that's a card I don't like right now since oath can usually cast their creatures.
Great primer though, and always great to see more vintage content!

The same goes to Harsh Mentor, this card in diverse metagame is not good. Against some decks you need 4, against many you'd rather see anything else than a 2/2 that occasionally hits an opponent for 2 (fetchland usually).

I think you're right that Harsh Mentor gets worse the more diverse the meta. OTOH, in a meta full of Ravagers and Ballistae, Harsh Mentor can really shine. Every time a player sacs an artifact to pump Ravager, every time a counter is removed from a Ballista to ping someone or something, every time a counter gets added to a Hangarback Walker, every time a Factory gets animated (or pumped), is a good opportunity for a Mentor to do 2 damage to that player. A single Harsh Mentor can severely disrupt a Ravager deck and multiples can be totally deadly.

On the gripping hand, Oath decks, Landstill decks, Two-Card Monte, PO decks, and just about everything else is not going to tremble in fear at a 2/2 that has little to no effect on them. If there were ever a time for maindeck Harsh Mentor to shine, the current prevalence of Ravagers should be it. (But it probably isn't.) Sideboard may be different. If this deck wants Mentors at all, think more about sideboard.

Also have you guys tried Chart a Course? By no means is it a deck breaking card, but it’s honestly not bad, and it helps solve some issues we have late game. I feel like it’s worth trying in some builds, especially Aggro focused ones.

I have been playing Chart in my Legacy UR Delver build. It's pretty good. I haven't tested yet in Vintage (in fact I have barely played any vintage for the past couple of months). One guy I know says it's very good and has 4 in his build.

The Vintage format lives on broken cards, and I see no reason why there shouldn't be broken cards that benefit my particular deck of choice to an inordinate degree. I mean, that's only fair.

@mediumsteve
A four of seems like a lot, but since cards like Brainstorm and Probe are restricted (and mental misstep is in the format too), it makes sense. Although I feel like three to two is a good starting number.

Come to think of it, Chart a Course might actually better in Vintage than in Legacy because of Mistep and the restricted list.

A question for you guys : I already have an ancestral & a time walk, I'm thinking about which piece of power to buy next - keeping in mind I almost exclusively play UR aggro.
Would you go for a Ruby ? A library of alexandria (not power, but nearly the same to me) ? Or wait 2 or 3 month until you can afford a sapphire ?